


"Lucky" Seven

by Anitzei_Pendragon



Category: Naruto
Genre: Hatake Kakashi Maybe has PTSD, He definitely does, Indra & Asura are Ghosts, Jinchuuriki Nohara Rin, Nohara Rin Lives, Nohara Rin is a bit of a troll, Uchiha Shisui Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:06:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26934820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anitzei_Pendragon/pseuds/Anitzei_Pendragon
Summary: "So, in your honest opinion... Which of us do you think can make chuunin?""Well. That depends on which one of you makes it out alive."
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Original Female Character(s), Hatake Kakashi & Nohara Rin, Nohara Rin & Sanbi | Three-tails | Isobu
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	1. Blood in the Water

**"Infuriating,"** Isobu rumbles in Rin's mind while she patrolled the Nakano River.

She nods and doesn't give the bijuu a verbal answer. Because unfortunately, she knows that her hackles are going to raise if they get into a debate about Kakashi again. Isobu is also very much right about Kakashi being infuriating.

Nakano River isn't Rin's usual patrol area. The Uchiha hate her and Kakashi with a burning passion and don't allow either of them anywhere near their lands if they can help it. But unfortunately, the water-natured Uchiha - Mirai - came down with a nasty cold and Fugaku took her off duty of the week. Mirai's father might have been a choice, but the old man - who Rin would respect to her dying breath - would sooner spit on Fugaku's face than to river patrol.

Isobu rises from their overly large pond in her mind. That and the sudden ripple upstream is enough to send Rin into battle mode without a second's thought. She doesn't hurry towards what had caused the disturbance.

The river shifts and covers any ripple caused by her dive in it. _Isobu_ covers any ripples. Rin so easily starts breathing after Isobu's chakra washes over her lungs and air pipe. It had been weird the first time. To breathe water was like breathing air, but also not. It was heavier, but also familiar. Rin's always had an affinity for water.

 **"Blood,"** Isobu notes with distaste.

"Human," Rin adds, a bubble leaving her mouth over the word.

Isobu rumbles affirmatively. Swimming came easily, even against the strong current of the river. And her sight gets used to the muddy water quickly as cool - water-natured and cold and calming in a way few things are these days - chakra bleeds into her eyes, adapting them to the water.

It's not long before she reaches the source of the disturbance. Blood freely follows the current from wounds on the boy's body. The most streams out of his eyes.

"He is alive," Isobu assures her just as they push more of their chakra through her.

Rin feels the difference, can _feel_ the very weak - and weakening - thudding of the boy's heart. "Humans need air..." she blurts out, swiftly swimming behind the boy.

Gently, she grips him by his armpits and starts swimming upward. Above water, it would be harder to move as smoothly. And not to mention that Rin could easily tell that he was over 5'9". The Konoha forehead protector gives her some consolidation, though.

Isobu's chakra retreats from Rin's lungs as her head slams above the water. She doesn't cough anymore because of the sudden change. Kicking her legs, she drags the - worryingly - limp body upon the shallow shore of the river, carefully shifting to avoid any stones.

Lowering the boy on the sandy (and muddy) shore, Rin pushes her chakra into her hands. It makes them glow a soft peppermint color as she carefully checks the damage.

His vital organs weren't damaged, Rin notes with some relief. Moving her hand up, she winces when she takes in the lack of actual eyeballs. Still, she wouldn't be the one Kushina trusted enough to hand over her position to if she couldn't at least stop the bleeding.

Rin lets a bit of Isobu's chakra blend in with her medical chakra so she can check for anything else. Isobu rumbles and lowers themselves in their pond. Closing her eyes, she takes a bit to pick up a faint - almost residual - purple flaring in the boy's bloodstream.

"Poison..." Rin mumbles, a soft sneer on her lips. "Why poison, of all things? Who did you piss off...?" she asks the boy, despite knowing that he won't answer.

Sighing, Rin reigns in Isobu's chakra so she can heal the rest of the stab wounds on the boy. The bijuu doesn't complain about having their chakra used.

 **"It's insect poison,"** Isobu instead informs her.

She nods, eyes still focused on making sure that she patches up the wounds correctly. Insect poison means Aburame, but the clan doesn't get involved unless it directly affects them. 

Or Root.

Rin's chakra flares at the thought. Root is not something she needs to be on the radar of. She just got off their active watch list last year. Getting back on it because she helped a kid... 

Rin inspects the boy. He couldn't be that much younger than her. Maybe four years? Three even. And damn it if the medic side of her isn't yelling at her to heal him.

Isobu rumbles a bit, shifting. **"You are not near the compound."**

"I'll make it," she assures, getting up after closing all the wounds.

All of them except the cut that's starting to turn purple around the edges. It's shallow, but most definitely the entry point of the poison. Which would be weird if the situation hadn't included Root.

She doesn't hesitate to push chakra into her muscles. _Isobu_ 's chakra into her muscles. Rin picks up the boy carefully and triggers a shunshin.

Her feet touch the ground outside of the Aburame compound in a little while. Isobu rumbles a warning at her just as a boy approaches them. Rin faintly recognizes the kid as one of Naruto's classmates and the clan heir.

"Hey there," she greets, a bit cheerfully even while the boy in her arms turns colder. "Is Shibi-sama here? My friend here got insect poison in his system, but I can't tell what kind."

The kid's head moves while he looks them over before turning on his heel. Mostly out of instinct, Rin instantly follows at a slight distance behind him. Working with Shibi on some missions was very helpful.

"Was he in water?"

Rin blinks. "Yes. I found him in the river. He was under for four minutes," she answers without farther prompting because there's a life on the line and she's a medic.

Shino - because Rin remembered Naruto saying something about him creeping out a girl - nods. "Good. Why? Because cold water slows down the poison."

She nods, taking a quick glance at the boy in her arms. He had easily gotten dry thanks to Isobu's chakra, but now muddied, curly hair stick to the boy's forehead and his breathing is too slow, chest barely rising.

(Rin knows that for all the coolness it gives her, Isobu's chakra is hot to the touch of a human. Scalding water, Kushina told her when she first came back.)

"Is there a cure?" she asks without hesitation because she is a medic first.

Shino nods and opens the door to one house - probably his, Rin notes, the familiar buzzing of Shibi's kikaichuu reaching her ears as she steps in over the Aburame heir. "Please wait here," Shino mentioned before walking deeper into the house, but he does gesture to one couch in the room.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Rin mumbles while putting the boy on the couch and kneeling beside it. "I'm sorry for being useless."

Her hand glows peppermint green as she lays it over his heart, gently smoothening the chakra coils there. It almost fights her chakra, but she's stronger than a dying kid.

 **"Uchiha,"** Isobu informs her as his chakra started accepting hers. **"The boy is an Uchiha."**

"Nohara-san," Shibi's curt greeting makes her nod back. "You did well to bring him here."

Rin raises her head to meet Shibi's gaze before getting up. "Thank you for the much-needed help," she bows deeply and remains there for a moment before Isobu rumbles and she straightens. "I will be outside if you require medical help, Shibi-sama."

<><><>

Shisui - Rin thought she might as well call him that instead of 'kid' - wakes up four days after she'd found him. Two days after the Uchiha Massacre. Other than Shibi - and by Shino - the only ones to know about the Uchiha are Kushina, Izuna, Naruto, Sakura, and Saori.

Rin had managed to not let the information slip to Kakashi or anyone else.

She doesn't as much as twitch when a kunai presses against her neck. Slowly, she puts down her book on the floor and tilts her head back. "Hello," she greets almost lazily, and Shisui twitches.

"Where am I?" the oldest Uchiha demands, kunai drawing closer to her neck.

"Konohagakure," Rin answers, and Isobu's chakra flares protectively, immediately making the younger pull away from her and trigger a shunshin, only to end up bumping in the closed door that leads to the kitchen. "My name is Nohara Rin," she introduces herself while getting up from the couch but not going closer to the Uchiha. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Shisui-kun."

Shisui's face turns sour. "Konoha... What happened?"

She shrugs and shoves a hand in her pocket before starting to explain. Her river patrol which ended far quicker than it should have when she found him. The kochuu poison that almost killed him when the river didn't. The suspicion that Uchiha Itachi had been the one to kill him. Shisui had jumped in, cleared up that by saying he jumped in the Nakano River from one of the steeper cliffs. She told him what little she knew of the Uchiha Massacre, which wasn't much, but still more than what most of the shinobi knew.

"Is there anyone left...?" Shisui's voice is quiet, distant, and filled with a detachment that Rin knows covers up sadness.

"Fugaku-sama's youngest," she answers softly.

Looking at him, Rin catches the sigh of relief that tumbles out his mouth. "Sasuke-Sasuke's alive... Thank the Sage."

Rin's mind moves to a conversation she'd had with Kushina earlier. "Would you like to remain here?"


	2. Last Day of Academy

Shisui raises an eyebrow while taking in the "damage" done to the Hokage monument. He'd seen the kinds of things an inspired Kushina could do. (No one is ever going to question why _exactly_ there's an Uchiha fan on Nidaime-sama's face. (Though both Shisui and Rin had theories that it might have been Izuna's idea.))

The offensive words are really not that bad, given the kinds of things Shisui had seen Naruto pull off. The maniacal laughter adds some flare to it, Rin sourly mumbled beside him when they arrived.

(Sakura and Saori are thankfully at the academy. Otherwise, he doubts the paint would be too easy to remove. Shisui would admit to no one that he's the one that taught them the jutsu.)

"Brat," Rin rumbles in a voice not really her own, and Shisui tenses.

The sudden wave of too powerful chakra instantly creates a circle around them. The Sanbi's chakra stopped bothering him that much a while ago, but he still tenses and backs away, landing between two poor chuunin that are trembling and holding on to each other for dear life.

Shisui snorts quietly, turning his head to look at Naruto. And really, he's not that fearful of the bijuu that Konoha has. Mostly because the second Kyuubi turns his fangs on Konoha again, he loses whatever freedom Kushina grants him at the moment. And from what he gathered? The Kyuubi really enjoys being able to sharpen his fangs on the bones of whatever poor A-rank nin he, Kushina, and Izuna hunt that month.

But he's simply a jounin as far as anyone is concerned. Genma knows who he is, but it took one five-minute talk with Rin and Kushina and the guard said nothing to anyone.

Shisui glances at one house to his left, out of the corner of his eye. The ANBU gives him an almost lazy wave before disappearing as if he was never there.

(He's still trying to get used to his eyes despite having them for four years now. The pastel pink hair took less getting used to. (If he's going to pass as Sakura's cousin, they need to have something in common. Because his new eyes turned Uchiha onyx one year after the transplant.))

Rin stalks over to the railing, "I'll report to Hokage-sama," she offers to one of the terrified chuunin offhandedly before jumping down.

Shisui hears the light paddle of her steps as she runs and mourns his shunshin and wonders - not for the first time - when was the last time he used it. He's pretty sure he hasn't shunshin-ed anywhere since he woke up after the Massacre.

Kushina had strongly suggested he shouldn't use it because it might give him away. Shisui agreed with her and Sakura suggested dyeing his hair to better cover up his Uchiha heritage. Apparently, being welcomed in the tiny Uzumaki clan meant being shoved up to the top of the command chain.

He never asked why a week after his eye transplant he's suddenly walking Naruto to school, watching over him, or taking him back to the house. It allows him to watch over Sasuke too, so he doesn't mind that much.

<><><>

Rin walks into Sarutobi's office like she owns it, and it might be Isobu's chakra still leaking out of her, but the two chuunin already in the room tense and reach for weapons. She doesn't spare them a glance while looking at the Sandaime.

"I advise to have Umino Iruka-kun excused from his class," she starts calmly and reigns in Isobu, whose hackles rise at the mere sight of the old man. "He has a better chance to take care of Naruto given Kushina-san's departure."

She holds back a sneer as the Hokage nods to one of the - _very incompetent_ \- chuunin. The poor asshole is shaking in his pants, and Rin doesn't hesitate to throw a snarl over her shoulder to get him going.

 **"All mutts think they're alphas until they meet a wolf,"** Isobu rumbles, some of his chakra bleeding into her coils.

 _Indeed_ , she thinks back a bit smugly. Because as long as Kushina is out on constant missions, she's jounin commander no matter how much the _older and more experienced_ (note the utter sarcasm in that statement) jounin hate it. 

(Rin is the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi. Many of Konoha's shinobi seem to forget that the reasons the village is still standing after Kyuubi got ripped out of Kushina twelve years ago are the fact that Minato sacrificed himself and Rin had entered version 2 chakra mode so completely that it almost looked like complete bijuu mode. Rin will never forget the feeling of Izuna's Susanoo armoring Isobu's chakra.)

Rin follows Sarutobi out, snarling at the remaining chuunin behind the Hokage's back before breezing past the old man. Isobu rumbles contently as the chuunin looks like he just realized that maybe he shouldn't be on active duty and retire. Kushina would be happy to know that there's one less Naruto-hating person in the system.

The jounin commander had told Rin to 'clean house' while she and Izuna are on missions. Rin intends to do just that. She takes a quick glance at the (soon to be former) chuunin's tags and makes a mental note to pull out his file later after he announces his retirement from the shinobi system. Still, by the man's flat jacket, Rin can easily tell that he's a normal chuunin and not an elite. That's good. Otherwise, Ibiki would have her cleaning house in the T&I for the next month.

Rin grimaces outwardly while looking at all the paint on the Hokage monument. She was gone ten minutes at most. How _exactly_ did Naruto have time to paint a pile of poop on the Sandaime's face? Scratch that. She doesn't want to know how, just wants to know how much she's going to get paid to clean it up. Probably D-rank payment...

Isobu flares protectively as some villagers shout insults at Naruto. The sudden flare quiets everyone present and Rin catches Shisui's eyes for a moment before the Uchiha fades into the crowd far easier than it should be with his pink hair.

The silence only lasts a minute before they start again. Isobu rumbles in their pond but thankfully sends no more chakra into her coils. Really, Rin's glad she went ahead of Sarutobi. And if Naruto gets away with anything other than a light scolding, well. Rin owes Anko some dango.

While Isobu would have no problems with it, Rin has half-a-mind to not let any more of their chakra into her system. If only because it would cause more trouble.

Rin sighs miserably while dragging a hand down her face as Naruto turns to shout back at the villagers. She completely lets herself slip in a pool of self-loathing as Kushina's tiny demon spawn (yes, Minato had not been amused when she started calling him that before he was born.) orders the villagers to shut up, calls them idiots, then brags about how he's incredible because he did something as horrible as paint the monument.

"Hokage-sama," she greets stiffly and stops herself from spitting out the title in distaste.

Because to her, Minato was a better Hokage than Sarutobi would ever be. At least her former sensei had the respect of the Uchiha clan. And Rin would bet an S-rank worth of payment that Sarutobi - or at least one councilman (*cough* *cough* Donzou *cough* *cough*) - had something to do with the Massacre. She'd _met_ Itachi, and from what little she preyed out of Kakashi, there was no way that kid would turn his back on Konoha and go on a murder spree.

Shisui never talked much about it. Just said that he'd like his existence to be a secret and not given to higher-ups. The highest ups to know about it are Izuna and Kushina.

"Geez..." Sarutobi mumbles with something akin to exasperation and sighs. "Even my face..."

"Could have been worse," Rin offers without hiding her smugness at the older's misery.

Isobu rumbles pleasantly as Iruka stepped on the railing of the building. "Sandaime-sama," the teacher greets curtly, eyes fixed on Naruto. "I apologize for this."

Rin's barks out a laugh. "I trust you have _this_ ," she gestures loosely to the monument, "under control, Iruka-kun?"

She gets her answer when veins pop on Iruka's temples. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING CLASS TIME?!" she doesn't hide a wince as Naruto yelps, waving his arms and legs much like a fish out of water. "GET DOWN HERE, YOU MORON!"

<><><>

Saori doesn't slam her head against the table when some no-name chuunin stumbles into the class and drags Iruka out, whisper-shouting something hysterically at their teacher. Iruka turns just enough to tell them they're self-studying until he gets back.

Sakura pulls out a scroll that looks like it might just be from the Warring States period. She really wouldn't be that surprised if the pinkie convinced Izuna to give it to her.

"Bet it's Naruto," Kiba pipes up from beside Saori.

"You'd probably be correct," she states and pulls out a scroll with a messily painted shuriken on it and unfolds it.

The Inuzuka snorts and leans back on his chair. "I thought ya read that like, twenty times. Do ya think you'll find something new in it?"

She shrugs, eyes fixed on the paper in front of her. "My... problem with kunai limits my attack range," she explains with slight hesitation.

"Problem?" Akamaru yelps, something like amusement in the puppy's voice. "You don't a _problem_ ," Kiba spats out the words, shoulders trembling with barely contained laughter, "with kunai. They have a problem with you!"

Saori tilts her head just enough to give her friend a blank glare. "Shut up," she sourly grumbles and tries not to think of all the times she slipped on the tip of a kunai. "My thigh still hurts from two days ago."

Saori turns back to her shurikenjutsu scroll as Kiba bursts into a laughing fit, slamming his fist on the desk. Reading _how_ to do the thing from the scroll is one thing, _doing_ the thing is another. Under her desk, she slowly goes over the hand seals of the Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu.

_Ox. Dog. Dragon. Rat. Dog. Boar. Snake. Tiger._

"Isn't that A-rank?" Kiba peeks over her shoulder.

Saori doesn't yelp, but she startles and falls off her chair. Her friend sends her a toothy grin before offering her a hand. With a soft huff, she grabs Kiba's hand and hauls herself up. "Menace," she snaps, sitting back in her chair. "And yes, it is."

"Ain't your chakra too low for it?" the Inuzuka tilts his head, curiosity written on his face.

She nods before offering, "Yes. I never stated I was going to use it. But it is good to have tricks up your sleeve."

"Yeah, learning how to do it is fine an' all. But you can't count on it when it matters, now can you?" Kiba points on, crossing his arms.

Akamaru yelps sharply and Saori sighs.

"See?" Kiba shakes his head. "Even Akamaru agrees that it's stupid. Should stick to E, D, and C-ranks until your jounin sensei clears you for higher ranks."

She simply raises an unimpressed eyebrow and her friend grins at her, canines bared.

She grimaces when Iruka stomps into the classroom sometime later, a tied-up Naruto slung over his shoulder. Their teacher puts the blond on the floor and doesn't untie him, instead choosing to loom over him.

Really, if Saori didn't know the trouble Iruka kept Naruto _out of_ , she'd have found a way to make Rin kick his teeth in or something. Kushina told her about how Iruka risked his life to protect Naruto from some Takigakure jounin five years back.

Though, she'd appreciate it if Iruka tuned down on the killing intent as it set both Kiba and Akamaru on full alert.

Transformation is awful, Saori learned when she first came to Konoha. Her cousin found no reason to teach her as her tiny chakra reserves made it easy to blend it with civilians. So, she is horrible at performing it.

Kiba throws her a pitying look before Iruka goes off about the right way to use a henge. Saori - maybe out of pure spite and annoyance at her own inability - ignores him in favor of concentrating. 

_Dog. Boar. Ram._

Saori forms each seal slowly, purposely, while pouring her chakra into the henge. After Iruka clears her, she walks out of the room with very sloppy genjutsu cast on top of her henge and slams the door just after her.

Sakura chokes the second the genjutsu drops. "Idiot!" the pinkie snaps as Saori tries to change back her skin color. "What did you do?!"

"Henge," Saori bluntly answer while glaring at her arm and pushing chakra into it, the skin there slowly turning shades lighter.

"This isn't henge!" the younger girl flails her arms around, half-hysteric and most definitely holding back screaming.

She rolls her eyes - eyes that are probably still several shades too brown and not enough iron.

And she flinches when cold, dark chakra washes over her. Sakura's eyes flicker to something behind her and narrow into a chilling glare. Saori knows that look, and her own gaze slides to the ghost beside Sakura.

"I'm fine now," she chides and annoyance grips at the back of her mind. "Thank you, Indra-san."

 _"Thank my insolent little brother,"_ the ghost drawls and steps in her line of sight.

"Steps" is a bit of a stretch, though. Neither brother needs to walk, simply choosing to hover almost a foot off the floor. Both are mostly see-through as well unless they don't use their chakra for something. "Something" usually means healing one of them.

Asura can't interfere with Saori, and Indra doesn't like Sakura enough to try. She shrugs and Sakura instantly stands to walk beside her.

"I'd rather not thank someone for something no needed," Saori mumbles.

"Totally needed," Sakura grins at her and she almost shivers, because Sakura most definitely looks like a shark.

Saori sees Asura nod in agreement with Sakura's teasing. "It wasn't appreciated it," she admits, and amusement washes over her. "This isn't funny."

 _"Of course, it is,"_ the corners of Indra's mouth tilt upward in an almost smirk, eyes flashing into a three tomoe Sharingan for a moment. _"I hope you enjoy the graduation ceremony later."_

Sakura snorts - very unlady-like might she note - as both brothers disappear without a trace. "They're horrible."

She nods. "They really are."


	3. Jounin Leader

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't name chapters for sh*t so... I originally wanted to introduce Kakashi with a scene that didn't make the cut in the manga but it didn't work out. Also, adult!Rin trolling Kakashi would be 100% true.

Haruno Sakura _did not_ sign up for this. She'd rather live the rest of her life spending no time suffocated by Mitarashi Anko's not-so-friendly-but-won't-kill-you snake. Not that said snake seems to even notice Sakura trying to wrestle free from its coils.

"Damn brat's a fucking moron," the snake summoner sneers, arms crossed.

"Why are we here?" Saori asks from beside Sakura, not seeming too bothered by the enormous snake coiled around her. "We did nothing wrong."

Sakura nods in agreement because the fucking snake doesn't let her actually talk without tightening around her.

Rin and Anko don't even spare them a glance. "Hokage-sama, with all due respect--" Sakura snorts because Rin has exactly no respect for anyone that isn't Kushina, the Yondaime or Izuna, "--it could have been far worse. Sensei had a similar picture as a genin. As did Jiraiya-sama. It's a tradition if you're going to put Kakashi or me in charge of his team."

"She's right~!" Anko sing-songs off-tune making Sakura grimace. "So? She or mister 'I-don't-have-any-friends-because-the-stick-up-my-ass-is-so-long-it-stabbed-and-killed-my-brain'?"

Sakura isn't sure who she'd want to leave Naruto in charge of. On one hand, Rin is a brutal medic that she adores and would love to learn under. On the other, the jounin could be short-tempered and didn't take well to having her actions questioned. But she knows nothing about this 'Kakashi' person other than that he was on Rin's genin team and that he served time in the ANBU. Neither of those made her very comfortable given Shimura's hold on the organization and how many people were loyal to him, not the Sandaime.

Then again, any person trained by the Yondaime is probably a monster in terms of strength and speed.

"Anko-kun, I'm certain Ibiki-san would appreciate your return--" Sarutobi waves at the tokujo, "--he said that he has a rather tough case on his hands that he doesn't have time to deal with."

Sakura is very much going to ignore the homicidal glee on Anko's face. "GET THESE OFF US!" she shouts before the woman could disappear, the snake's hold around her tightening.

"Oh!" the Mitarashi woman swirls around. "Thanks, guys!" she gives a pat on the head to each of the snakes and the fucking poof away, vanishing in white smoke that she waves away just in time to see Anko jump out the window.

Sakura huffs and a cool hand on her shoulder is the only thing stopping her from following the crazy woman and giving her a piece of her mind. That and she'd rather stay as far away from the T&I building.

"Naruto-chan isn't going to retake that," Saori points at the picture. "He put a lot of thought into it and time."

Sarutobi sighs, smoke from his pipe coming out his mouth. "Get out."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Rin gives a tiny bow before grabbing both her and Saori by the back of their shirts and triggering a shunshin.

Sakura wrenches herself free the second she can while Saori doesn't seem all that bothered by being held up by her metaphorical scruff like a sage-damn kitten. "When is Kushina-dono coming back?" she asks while dusting herself off.

"Probably in a week," Saori answers.

Rin nods and puts the ex-Suna-nin back on the ground. "Saori-chan's right, now. Off to class with you two."

<><><>

Hatake Kakashi has taken exactly nine teams since his forced resignation from ANBU. He also failed nine genin teams. Needless to say, he doesn't have an outstanding track record with genin. So the news Rin just dropped on him aren't exactly brightening his day much. Like, sure, he _knew_ he was going to have a team, just not which one. He's going to kill Genma for not telling him this.

"Please tell me you're joking," he pleads, looking at his - very evil and he swears she spends too much time with Anko - best friend and former teammate.

Rin shrugs, clearly uncaring towards his dilemma. "Not at all."

"Rin..." Kakashi's lips curl in a silent snarl beneath his mask as he warns.

"Don't give me that," the medic smiles slightly. "Sanbi-sama tells me to tell you they don't like it."

He's already tense as soon as the mention of the bijuu flies out of her mouth. But Rin's face is relaxed, even as the white of her eyes shift into bloody-red and her brown eyes glow golden for a second before she blinks.

"No need to look so spooked, Bakashi," Rin waves a hand at him. "Sanbi-sama can play nice if they want."

"Doubt it," he grumbles, before sighing. "So? Which ones do I have?"

Rin hadn't told him exactly who he gets to send back to the academy. Just that he'd be leading Team 7, which really makes him wonder who exactly are the unlucky brats that got to be under that number.

"Follow me, please," Rin jumps over the railing of the rooftop they were sitting on and Kakashi follows.

Their stop is an apartment building in the far better part of the village. "This is nice," he notes while they walk up the stairs.

"This is where one of your future kids lives," his terror of an ex-teammate informs him while picking the lock of a door and walking in the apartment.

In a brief summary of the place... It doesn't look _lived in_. The apartment is almost too clean and there aren't photos or anything in the rooms. Kakashi trails a finger on one table and notes that even that is sparkly clean.

"Neat," he comments nonchalantly. "Cleaning freak?"

Rin shrugs and pulls the fridge open, only for her face to twitch, and she closes it. "Probably stress cleaning. Kid's over-all makes him the top of his class."

"Maa," Kakashi complains, before opening the fridge and being greeted with tomatoes. A lot of tomatoes. "Are you going to tell me his name?" he asks while shutting the fridge and turning to look at the medic.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Kakashi doesn't choke on his own spit. He doesn't. And Rin most definitely doesn't smack his back to get him out of a coughing fit.

"I think you punched my lungs out," he wheezes.

"Sorry," Rin chuckles, a hand covering her mouth.

"No, you're not."

"No, I'm not."

Rin looks at him expectedly. Kakashi doesn't want to give her an actual answer. Uchiha Sasuke as his student sounds pretty horrible given that all Uchiha (for some reason that at some point excluded Obito and Shisui) had sticks up their asses and don't work with others.

"Why does he live here?" Kakashi asks, because logically the boy should live with Izuna.

"Izuna-san isn't in the village that much," Rin bluntly informs him. "Which you'd know if you came to clan heads' meetings, Ha~ta~ke~."

He lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug. "This is going to be troublesome."

His teammate - and superior because Kakashi suddenly realized that she's either doing this for the Hokage or for Kushina (he can't tell which one concerns him more) - smiles warmly at him. "Next stop is outside the village," she informs him and walks out, Kakashi at her heels.

He wonders when Rin became the alpha among his ~~friends~~ ~~family~~ pack. Hatake weren't matriarchal, unlike the Inuzuka are these days. The strongest was the alpha, and that was that. Kakashi watches in silence as Rin locks up the apartment, leaving no trace of them having been there.

He logically knows that among his generation, Rin is the strongest. The Sanbi made sure of that the second his ex-teammate survived a Chidori to the chest. He didn't exactly mind it, because after Rin the strongest are he and Gai. And he isn't alpha material, and neither is Gai.

"Where outside the village?" he asks while following the medic-nin as they run along the rooftops of Konoha.

Rin glances at him over her shoulder. "Hatake lands."

Kakashi oh-so-regretted letting Kushina move there now. Not that he used the compound and the wolf pack had been over the moon when he brought Kushina, Izuna, and Naruto there, after the Kyuubi attack. His sister had taken all three of them and made them honorary Hatake. He didn't visit. Visiting meant going into the same place his father died. He didn't want that.

"Earth to Bakashi!" he startles a bit and zones back in, Rin had stopped and was waving a hand in front of his face, a worried look on her face. "You back yet?" the worry on her face hardened.

"Maa. Of course," Kakashi offers his ex-teammate a smile.

Rin snorts and starts running again, but he catches the exasperated look on her face.

The compound and the forest surrounding it changed since the last time he visited. The old houses aren't there anymore, and instead, every house seems to build around old trees. Take a breath, Kakashi notes the scent of blood in the air.

"Kushina-san liked to be thorough," Rin mentions, pointing at a tree that Kakashi notices is almost _dyed_ in blood. "This way," she beckons him towards a house on the far end of the compound.

"So... Which brat do I have?"

Rin throws him an amused look. Kakashi didn't completely ignore his sensei's wife, son, or even the current head of the Uchiha clan. So, he knows that Kushina adopted two other hellions a while back.

"All three," the grin Rin gives him almost seems to split her face. "Courtesy of Kushina-san, of course."

<><><>

"No."

Sakura doesn't get up and smacks her head against a pillar. She doesn't. Really! But she should have known that Saori wouldn't just go along with it.

"No?" Kakashi - their stupid sensei that was three hours late - raises his visible eyebrow.

"No," Saori bluntly repeats. "You will tell us something about you or you will have to read our files."

"How about you start?" Kakashi suggests.

Sakura is quick to move behind and cover Saori's mouth with a hand and nudge Naruto with the other. "How about Naruto goes first?" she smiles.

"Okay," thankfully, their sensei accepts that.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" the blond happily announces loudly. "I like ramen, Kaa-chan, Izuna-oochan - but he doesn't like it when I call him that - Sakura-chan and Saori-chan! Oh, and going to Ramen Ichiraku with Iruka-sensei! Kurama's pretty cool too, but he's grumpy and snaps at me a lot. I don't like the extra three minutes you have to wait for cup ramen to cook, or when that old hag stabbing my house! My dream... is to surpass the Hokage and have the people of this village acknowledge me!"

Sakura sits back between Naruto and Sasuke when she's sure that Saori won't accidentally insult their jounin leader. Not that she'd mind, but it's not nice and Sakura has been on the end of Saori's bluntness.

Truth be told, Sakura isn't exactly impressed by their sensei. He looks slightly like a man someone told her about, but other than that she's not sure. 

(She'd have to steal Rin's Bingo Book again to see if the man is in it. Or she can ask Saori to do it seeing as the other seems to have a better time of going it.)

"I see..." Kakashi muses after Naruto finishes. "Pinkie, you go next."

Sakura rolls her eyes and tucks a lock of hair being her ear. "My name is Haruno Sakura," she introduces herself. "I like people that don't underestimate others and listening to the stories Kushina-dono and Izuna-dono tell me. I don't like whiny brats that think they can achieve what they want without training or practice," she pointedly shoots a glare at Naruto, who pouts back at her. "My dream for the future is to help those in need. Hobbies... I don't know--" shrugging she gestures to Saori, "--reading scrolls?"

Kakashi hums, "That's a good dream. Next," his eye slides to Sasuke.

Sakura grits her teeth before huffing and crossing her arms. She's used to Konoha's easy dismissal of smaller villages and the damage the Great Wars caused. It's at least good to know that her sensei is no different. If he was, then she'd have trouble acting around him. Maybe.

"Uchiha Sasuke," the boy on her left offers. "I like tomatoes and that's about it. There are a ton of things I dislike, but I don't feel like telling you. It's not a dream, but something that will happen..."

She would have shuddered at the dark energy the boy let out. Except prolonged exposure to Anko and Kurama kinda made her immune to feeling effects of killing intent. Not to mention her family before coming to Konoha.

"I will resurrect my clan... And kill a certain someone."

Sakura rolls her eyes. _Drama queen_ , she thinks, and Asura's laugher makes her mouth curl in a smile. She didn't notice when the spirit return from wherever he and that bastard go to when they aren't around.

"Okay..." Kakashi looks at Saori and Sakura sighs. "Would you like to introduce yourself now, brat?"

Saori leans back on her palms, "Not really," she bluntly answers. "But Mitarashi-san said to play nice to people I don't like. Apparently, it makes it easier to kill them later," the innocent head tilt does nothing to lessen the underlining threat in there. "My name is Haruno Saori. I like winter storms - given that it barely snows here and it's hot almost all year 'round - and traveling. I don't like hot places or people that don't think before they act. I want to travel and meet interesting people when I grow up. My hobbies are to wander around the forest or in the underground tunnel system because it's cooler."

"OK!" Kakashi clapped his hands while Sakura sagged in relief.

 _"That could have gone worse,"_ Asura's voice is stained as he assures her, and Sakura doesn't have to glace at him to know that his face is pinched.

"That's enough of that for now," the jounin announced. "We'll be starting our duties tomorrow."

Naruto cheered and some of Asura's excitement washes over her. "What kinds of duties?" Naruto's expression turns wary for a moment before he cheerfully exclaims 'duties' four times loudly.

"First, we're going to do something, just the five of us," Naruto immediately asks what. "Survival training."

Saori raises an unimpressed eyebrow while Sakura fumes. "Not that I'm complaining," Saori starts. "But you want us to fight one another?"

"Nope!" Kakashi brightly denies. "I'll be your opponent. And this isn't normal training."

"What's so special about it?" Sakura asks before the jounin's shoulders start trembling with laughter. "What's so funny, sensei?"

"No..." another dark chuckle leaves the man. "Well... It's just that... When I tell you this, you guys are definitely going to flip."

Naruto's face scrunches up. "Flip? Why?"

"Of the twenty-eight graduates, they will really give only nine or ten the rank of genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy," Sakura shivers a little at the dark look on the man's face. "This training is a super difficult exam with a failure rate of over sixty-six percent."

Naruto's jaw drops, Sakura feels her left eye twitching, Sasuke's hands tighten slightly on each other, and Saori just stares blankly.

"He was right," the ex-Suna noted. "We are flipping."

"What the Hell?!" Naruto shouts, causing Sakura to wince. "But we worked so hard! And then what's the point of the graduation?!"

"Pretty sure that was to select which of us had potential to become genin," Sakura dryly informs. "Saori failed it once, remember?"

Kakashi's eye sparks with interest for a moment before it dulls again. "Anyway..." the jounin waves a hand in front of himself, as if trying to wave away the subject. "Tomorrow, you will be graded on the training field. Bring all of your shinobi tools. Oh! And skip breakfast unless you want to throw up."

"I can't fail here..." Naruto's shoulders shake, but determination shines in his eyes. "I'll kick your ass, Kakashi-sensei! And make you recognize my strength," despite the boy mumbling under his breath, Sakura noticed Kakashi's eyes sliding to the blond.

_He has a pretty sharp hearing..._

_"He's a Hatake,"_ Indra's cold voice offers as though that's supposed to mean something to her.

Kakashi gives each of them a piece of paper. "That has the details. Don't be late tomorrow," after that the jounin poofs away in a cloud of smoke.

"I hate him," Saori's blunt tone sends both Sakura and Naruto into a laughing fit.


End file.
